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leweylibrary's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
It only gets points for the kind of fun setting and indigenous rep, sorry 🤷‍♀️ otherwise I kinda hated it lol.
I did not enjoy reading it, I had to force myself to finish it for a book club, and I had sooo many issues with it that completely took me out of the story. Like her awful friends wtf??? They were horrible and I really hope they weren't inspired by the author's real friends lol. What kind of friends automatically ask if you've murdered someone or destroyed your own apartment?? I wanted to like the supernatural element, and it was one of the few things keeping me interested, but there could've been so much more done with it. I felt like a lot of the conversations, situations, and relationships just made no sense. I truly don't know how this was long listed for the National Book Prize. Like how.
I did not enjoy reading it, I had to force myself to finish it for a book club, and I had sooo many issues with it that completely took me out of the story. Like her awful friends wtf??? They were horrible and I really hope they weren't inspired by the author's real friends lol. What kind of friends automatically ask if you've murdered someone or destroyed your own apartment?? I wanted to like the supernatural element, and it was one of the few things keeping me interested, but there could've been so much more done with it. I felt like a lot of the conversations, situations, and relationships just made no sense. I truly don't know how this was long listed for the National Book Prize. Like how.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Gore, Gaslighting, Death, Grief, Blood, Murder, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Drug use, Colonisation, and Racism
Minor: Pedophilia, Medical content, and Sexual harassment
mynameisrebecca's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Racism, Gore, Murder, Child death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Xenophobia
cemetereality's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Every moment spent between Rita and her Grandmother are so deeply moving that you can put aside how rushed the other portions are. The details of the crime scenes and original story start off so clear and compelling. It gets jumbled and we end without feeling finished or getting answers. I highly recommend reading Shutter, because the moments of familial joy and pain are palpable. It’s a beautiful and moving story the moments with her grandfather’s ghost radiating warm light around her room… I could cry thinking about their relationship. Rita and her grandmother going through the trunk of painful memories was heartbreaking, but also a beautiful moment of understanding between them.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Gun violence, and Grief
eicart_reads's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Child death, Car accident, Racism, Colonisation, and Grief
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Drug use, Animal death, Terminal illness, and Bullying
hayleemarie's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, and Colonisation
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
mayhem9683's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality, Terminal illness, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Violence, Murder, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Gun violence, Alcohol, and Eating disorder
j_squaredd's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I think they did a disservice by marketing this book as a thriller. It only gets fast paced and thriller-y in the last quarter. The first three quarters is quite slow with not a lot of plot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Child death, Death, Murder, Gore, Gun violence, and Blood
Moderate: Alcohol, Racism, Car accident, Kidnapping, and Drug use
jourdanicus's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I was so into this book I bought a copy of it on audio to supplement my library ebook copy. I wanted to get through it. It hooked me from the premise when I saw a hard copy in a book store, I knew I had to read it, and I'm glad I got to.
The story was propulsive, with believable (if not overly deep) characters and a fairly tight plot. I enjoyed the back and forth timeline. Aspects of Navajo beliefs, culture, and family history/life were woven in to a crime drama which didn't rely too heavily on trope.
I'd recommend to anyone who has a strong stomach for gore, appreciates a "gritty," dry female protagonist, and/or whose guilty pleasure is police procedurals but agrees with ACAB.
Edit/note: read ebook + listened to audiobook
The story was propulsive, with believable (if not overly deep) characters and a fairly tight plot. I enjoyed the back and forth timeline. Aspects of Navajo beliefs, culture, and family history/life were woven in to a crime drama which didn't rely too heavily on trope.
I'd recommend to anyone who has a strong stomach for gore, appreciates a "gritty," dry female protagonist, and/or whose guilty pleasure is police procedurals but agrees with ACAB.
Edit/note: read ebook + listened to audiobook
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Death, Gore, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical content, Colonisation, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol
just_one_more_paige's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I don't usually read thrillers, a trend that is probably pretty obvious if you even cursorily follow my reviews, but I was intrigued by this one that made the National Book Award longlist. It's not really that common, at least in my recreational following of the award, for a book categorized as a "thriller" to make the list. (Side note: shout out to libro.fm for the advanced listerner's copy!) And so, here we are.
Rita Todacheene works for the Albuquerque Police Department as a forensic photographer. She's loved cameras and taking photos since she was a child, and this was one of the only options she could find that provided her a stable income and the chance to take photos. It is, perhaps, just inconvenient (or is it more like fate) that she is also secretly able to see ghosts. In her job, they sometimes point her to clues that others have overlooked. In her personal life, it caused quite a bit of strife, as her superstitious Navajo reservation community treated her differently, isolated (with the exception of her grandmother, who raised her), once they found out about her taboo ability. Rita has figured out a way to, for the most part, shut out the ghosts, but the victim of a recent case she photographed just will not leave her alone...and the ghost's push for vengeance will lead Rita into a dangerous cartel inside-man/cover-up situation.
Well, I can see what made this particular thriller special, a literary sort of mystery, that could get it added to the NBA longlist. The writing is...incredibly evocative. I literally made the note "shit, this opening descriptive monologue is visceral" after the first couple pages. And then it never let up. It's intense, I can't lie. The specifics and particulars of the crime scenes Rita photographs are not for the faint-hearted. Seriously, it's an onslaught of gruesome murder scenes and details. Please be ready: all the content warnings for death and violent death and blood and disfigurement, etc. But the use of the photographs and the perspective of the photographer as a narrative device works really well. It adds so much to the tangibility of the narrative. This is just writing that sticks to your bones. And I enjoyed the way the ending took “making peace with death” to a whole new/different level.
Rita's personal development throughout the novel was kept me interested. The story is told in dual storylines. One of the past, as Rita grows up and realizes both that she has the "gift" of seeing ghosts, as well as the turbulent home life that she was thrust into off the reservation as a result of the visions of ghosts and communication with the dead that people’s superstitions made it too hard to live alongside. One in the present, as Rita struggles to help her victim's ghost get answers, and revenge, while trying to balance her own relationships and jobs and normal life stressors. It took me longer to get into the “past” storyline, but about halfway through it got more compelling for me, and the way it built from there, alongside their mystery in the present, balanced well. I loved Rita's relationship with her grandmother, it was an overall highlight, for me, as it was nuanced and genuine in both its flaws and its fullness. Tied in with that, the thread of Navajo culture/traditions/beliefs and contemporary history interspersed lightly, but thoroughly, throughout was phenomenal. It was beautifully tender and esteemed, while Emerson showed great insight into the complexities of the advantages and disadvantages of being raised solely on the reservation versus in combination with off-reservation life (both the involuntary, like the residential schools, and the self-determined).
Interestingly, I feel like the literary side of this novel overshadowed the mystery/thriller aspects a little too much. Like, I felt a weirdly low amount of tension while reading, considering the intensity and high-stakes of the plot and the life-threatening situations Rita finds herself in. Also, there was some plot stuff that either didn't feel right or wasn't my cup of tea. First, and this is my thing with thrillers, something always happens that feels too convenient or easy (in this case, the party photos) and, really, information she gets from a “retired” detective seemed like it came too easy (like, is he not afraid of backlash or whatever?!). Also, unrelated to most of the rest of the plot, she had a one-night stand with a guy who then never came back...and he was supposed to? It felt like both an unnecessary plot point that then turned into a loose/hanging thread by the end and I felt we could have done without that half-hearted attempt to highlight that Rita "also has a personal life/life outside work." Her friends felt similarly "iffy" as far as their development and role(s) in the greater plot - more convenient that worth being developed in their own right.
Overall, I just don't know about this one. I realize that I might be biased because it's not my typical genre. And there were parts that were great - the writing was a real highlight and the cultural aspects were phenomenal. I also thought the concept was so cool, the idea of ghosts helping a forensic photographer find evidence to capture is wonderful in theory and vision. But the plot and development left something to be desired. And the combination of literary fiction and thriller wasn't enough of either/both together. So, in the end, this maybe was just...not enough...for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Gun violence, Gore, Violence, Murder, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abandonment, Drug use, Racism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Child death, and Trafficking
Minor: Sexual content, Stalking, and Pregnancy
deedireads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
Shutter is a fast-paced, character-driven paranormal thriller that doesn’t quite knock it out of the park, but does some interesting things and definitely holds your attention.
For you if: You don’t mind gore and want to read more genre fiction by Indigenous authors.
FULL REVIEW:
Shutter is a fast-paced, Indigenous, paranormal thriller that was longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction this year. While a lot of people are ranking it last on the list (including, probably, me) and scratching their heads about its nomination, I do think it does some interesting things that are worth talking about.
The story is about a Navajo woman named Rita who takes forensic photos for the Albuquerque police department for a living. She can also see and talk to ghosts — has for her whole life. We jump back and forth between the present day, where one woman’s ghost pushes Rita into the thick of some dangerous corruption in order to solve her murder, and the past, as Rita was raised by her grandmother on a reservation, fell in love with cameras, and struggled with a gift that was feared (and often, understandably, disbelieved) by her community.
The thing about this book is that it doesn’t quite feel like literary fiction but also doesn’t quite feel like a thriller, which is why I think it’s leaving readers on both sides a little underwhelmed. It wasn’t really a mystery, at least not to us as readers; there’s no big twist to the present-day storyline, just a steady build to an explosive ending. Still, it does have momentum (I read it in one afternoon, aided by the audiobook).
I think the chapters set in the past are the ones that earned this book its NBA nomination; Emerson really explores a lot in these sections about home and community, childhood trauma, an absent mother, and how we can escape our ghosts (literally and metaphorically) while still carrying our loved ones with us — especially using photography as a way to do both.
One last thing to note: Be aware that the opening chapter of this book has some pretty lengthy, graphic descriptions of pieces of a dead body scattered all over the ground. It was a notable opening, but kind of a lot.
Anyway, if you’re curious about this one, I think it’s worth picking up just to challenge your notion of genre and look for the things the NBA judges found. It’s a quick read regardless!
TL;DR REVIEW:
Shutter is a fast-paced, character-driven paranormal thriller that doesn’t quite knock it out of the park, but does some interesting things and definitely holds your attention.
For you if: You don’t mind gore and want to read more genre fiction by Indigenous authors.
FULL REVIEW:
Shutter is a fast-paced, Indigenous, paranormal thriller that was longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction this year. While a lot of people are ranking it last on the list (including, probably, me) and scratching their heads about its nomination, I do think it does some interesting things that are worth talking about.
The story is about a Navajo woman named Rita who takes forensic photos for the Albuquerque police department for a living. She can also see and talk to ghosts — has for her whole life. We jump back and forth between the present day, where one woman’s ghost pushes Rita into the thick of some dangerous corruption in order to solve her murder, and the past, as Rita was raised by her grandmother on a reservation, fell in love with cameras, and struggled with a gift that was feared (and often, understandably, disbelieved) by her community.
The thing about this book is that it doesn’t quite feel like literary fiction but also doesn’t quite feel like a thriller, which is why I think it’s leaving readers on both sides a little underwhelmed. It wasn’t really a mystery, at least not to us as readers; there’s no big twist to the present-day storyline, just a steady build to an explosive ending. Still, it does have momentum (I read it in one afternoon, aided by the audiobook).
I think the chapters set in the past are the ones that earned this book its NBA nomination; Emerson really explores a lot in these sections about home and community, childhood trauma, an absent mother, and how we can escape our ghosts (literally and metaphorically) while still carrying our loved ones with us — especially using photography as a way to do both.
One last thing to note: Be aware that the opening chapter of this book has some pretty lengthy, graphic descriptions of pieces of a dead body scattered all over the ground. It was a notable opening, but kind of a lot.
Anyway, if you’re curious about this one, I think it’s worth picking up just to challenge your notion of genre and look for the things the NBA judges found. It’s a quick read regardless!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Murder, and Gore
Moderate: Alcohol, Racism, and Drug use